02.12.2009

Respect yes, fear no

At today's press conference ahead of the away clash at Bayern Munich (Friday, 2030 CET) head coach Michael Frontzeck chose to look forward rather than back.

14 October 1995 – a date no Borussia fan is likely to forget. For that was the Saturday afternoon when Borussia won for the one and only time away to Bayern in the Bundesliga, compared with 31 defeats in their remaining 40 outings. In action for Borussia that day was Michael Frontzeck.

"Bayern are a team who can up the pace and score goals at any time", said Frontzeck. "They're composed on the ball and the quality in their squad is second to none." The Borussia boss watched Saturday's opponents in Hannover last Sunday and was particularly impressed by the strike pairing of Gomez and Olic and the attacking wide players Müller and Pranjic. He added: "And maybe Robben and Ribery will pop up against us as well, who knows?"

Same starting eleven as against Schalke?

His players have plenty of respect for Germany's record championship-winning club, of course, but with Borussia now undefeated in five in the Bundesliga (including two away wins) they will go to Munich in confident mood, as Frontzeck made clear: "It's not right to say we have nothing to lose. We have three points to lose and we're going to do everything we can to keep our run going."

Filip Daems, Gal Alberman, Paul Stalteri, Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker and Christian Dorda remain sidelined. So it is by all means possible that Frontzeck will field the same eleven players who beat Schalke 1-0 last Saturday. The picture will become clearer after the final pre-match training session on Thursday. And since Frontzeck is not planning on changing his formation, Jean-Sébastien Jaurès looks set to maintain his position at left-back. "Jean has become an important part of the team", he said. "He's one of the players who perhaps doesn't get as much recognition for his performances in the media as he should."

Some 6,000 Borussia supporters will be part of a sell-out crowd at the Allianz Arena and hoping their team can come away with at least a point.